Sales success for Paisley Daily Express

THE Paisley Daily Express newspaper has bucked the trend for regional newspapers by registering a sales increase, according to the Audit Bureau of Circulation.

Says the sales auditing body, in its six-monthly report of regional newspapers throughout the UK, the Media Scotland-owned PDE registered an average sale in Scotland of 7,232 at the end of December last year.

In comparison to six months previously, that means some five per cent up. And in comparison to 12 months previously, it was also up, this time by 1.3 per cent.

Media Scotland are publishers of several local titles in Scotland, plus the Daily Record and Sunday Mail national ones.

In a statement, Allan Rennie, Media Scotland’s editor-in-chief, is quoted, as saying: “This is a tremendous testament to the hard work and talent of editor John Hutcheson and all his team at the Paisley Daily Express.

“A bright new design, fantastic stories that promote Paisley and great scoops have driven this sales result.

“The great thing is the latest figures are showing that sales growth is actually accelerating. However, the Paisley Daily Express isn’t resting on its laurels as the country’s best-performing daily and we’ll be launching new initiatives and promotions to stay where we belong: at No. 1.”

Among the other daily and evening titles reported on by ABC, The Herald saw its average sale in December marked at 43,157, while sister title, the Sunday Herald, registered a figure of 25,840. When both titles had their sales figures last made public – for June last year – they were categorised as ‘national titles’. Then they requested being re-classified as ‘regional’. Their June 2012 average sales-in-Scotland figures stood at 44,283 and 26,074, respectively.

The figures were issued at midday.

The daily/evening titles’ list in Scotland reads as follows:

Evening Express – (average circulation in Scotland at the end of December last year): 40,722, down 5.4 per cent on six months previously and down 7.5 per cent on 12 months previously;

The Press and Journal – 66,679, down 2.9 per cent and down 1.6 per cent;

The Courier – 53,243, down 5.3 per cent and down 10.9 per cent;

Evening Telegraph – 21,444, down 4.7 per cent and down 6.4 per cent;

The Edinburgh Evening News – 32,160, down 9.7 per cent and down 13.7 per cent;